Industries are flooded with data and this data can be used to extract a lot of money if only we knew how to use it. With the rapid advancement of technology, we have high-speed networks and improved algorithms for analytics. Various industries including healthcare and financial services are basically resting on terabytes of valuable data and information. Six best methods for monetizing data are as follows:

1. Building up trust and neutrality among the customers.
2. Anonymization and aggregation of data is required.
3. To acquire permission of utilizing the data that is not owned by the company.
4. To consider spinning out the data monetization unit.
5. Provision of data analytics in real time.
6. Furnishing customers with self-service capabilities.

In order to know more about data monetization, please follow the link: http://www.cio.com/article/2941291/big-data/memo-to-cios-cash-in-on-that-data.html

It's technology on the rocks for whisky lovers. Diageo using new technology to improve its customer experience. They have created a label (read sensor) that will create smart bottles for their whisky. Laura Denham, International Events Director at Innovation enterprise, enlightens us with the smartness of smart bottles. 

• Well, it gives specific information about the whisky helping the customer to select their best fit.

• It helps detect any kind of tampering with the bottle. Fake products will be a history.

• These sensors can’t be cloned. 

• Help track the journey of the bottles and reduce supply chain wastage. 

For more, follow the link http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/whiskey-the-internet-of-things

Media companies are taking advantage of advanced analytics and technology in order to increase their sales. Hence it allows advertisers to foresee what ROI they might anticipate from an investment in different channels and how this basically generates revenue. Advertisers are also interested about the exact efforts that they need to pursue to improve the results.

Daniel Kehrar (VP Marketing, MarketShare) in his article on Forbes indicated the five rationales which led media companies to move towards performance-based selling and they are as follows-                       

* Advertisers are under greater security.

* Brands are growing accustomed to analytics.

* The technology to accurately and cost-effectively predict advertiser outcomes is here.

* Advertisers want more.

* Better data and analysis brings greater credibility.

 For further details on this study, please follow the link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesinsights/2015/06/25/4-ways-analytics-are-helping-media-companies-sell-outcomes-over-eyeballs/

Internet of Things (IOT) has been evolving over time and it has moved beyond controlling networks to improve connectivity among devices, systems, people, services and things. The companies which are not manufacturers, retailers, telecoms or logistic providers have also been benefitted by IOT. Shelly Dutton (a valued contributor to business2community.com) in her article in business2community.com has mentioned the four trends about Internet of Things that we need to revise and they are as:

 1. Change is already in progress and widespread.

2. The IOT conversation addresses different things to different organizations.

3. The IOT is no longer just "cool" - it is transformative.

4. Federal governments are getting on board.

Read more at: http://www.business2community.com/tech-gadgets/these-4-things-will-change-your-outlook-on-the-internet-of-things-01259990

Healthcare as an industry faces serious challenges in the context of improving patient care and safety of their staffs and patients, besides managing costs. Bryan Warren, the director of corporate security at Carolines Healthcare, said that the video surveillance and analytics had helped to increase productivity both within and outside of the security function. Video analytics helps to set checks in order to ensure that patient satisfaction remains high. In Europe, it affects audit scores and government funding. Video analytics can also be used for efficient staffing levels or better handling of the emergency procedure. Video surveillance plays a crucial role in the provision of evidence whenever a problem occurs and in traditional security.

 To know more, please follow the link: http://www.forbes.com/sites/avigilon/2015/06/11/healthcare-meeting-future-challenges-today-with-video-analytics/

“Radio, television and internet-enables computers in the 20th century created an increase in option of media channels for brands.”- Christopher Heine (Digital Editor for Adweek)
Disruption and fragmentation are causing cracks between those who make platforms and those who hold the purse strings to ad budgets. Five statements from major industry players that help them to build a good marketing strategy:
• People, let's be real here.
• More native may mean more friction.
• The pace of change nowadays can be insane for creatives.
• The good news is that progress is being made.
• Everyone’s bottom line depends on this working out.
Read more at: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/5-intriguing-takes-advertising-and-technologys-relationship-status-165409

In 2012, analytics was applied in the presidential election of USA. They employed a strong analytics team who used a strong analytics database and prediction was predicted with R and SPSS. The presidential team made a mega file to find potential voters, get their attention, predict specific appeals to persuade people etc. Consumer Data determined people who funded for the campaign as fundraising was an important aspect of the victor. Read more about this article by Euan Hunter (Global Delegate Sales Executive) at:  https://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/taking-political-control-with-digital-analytics

For start-ups and SMEs, Open Source (OS) software will be the most attractive option because it’s free and also there is no vendor lock in. So there are no contracts to break. The biggest advantage of OS software is that is gives us the option of operating, sharing, and modifying the software as we choose. Collaborators are able to access the software from around the world to share ideas and add features that could improve it. Its drawbacks involves low costs, which gets further complicated by a lack of support with OS software. Lyndsay notes four questions that needs to be answered in Wise’s book, Using Open Source Platforms for Business Intelligence: Avoid Pitfalls and Maximize ROI. Read more about this article at: http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/is-open-source-analytics-software-the-right-option 

Human intelligence is found in every organization. It is difficult to derive meaningful information from unstructured data and hence it's a big mistake not to use it in decision making.  Content Intelligence is the combination of technology and information science which allows machines to model, interpret, analyze and visualize human intelligence within an organization. It is used to generate new revenue streams, gain operational efficiencies, increase customer satisfaction, rise in productivity and avoiding costly networks. The rising pressure on enterprises increases costs and riskiness when content intelligence isn't available. It makes unstructured information self-describing and hence allows content-based information to be described in a similar way as structured data.For further details on content intelligence, please follow the link :  http://www.dataversity.net/what-is-content-intelligence/

Big Data and analytics have a huge role to play in the future of healthcare. Data will play a major role in deciding how healthcare companies, practitioners and technologies interact with their patients. Big Data ensures efficiency and accuracy in predicting treatments. Using data, doctors can make more accurate predictions based on the specifics of the patient rather than using a general rule for treatment. Major companies are venturing into healthcare by formulating pre-defined algorithms; making it easier to cure complex medical conditions. With the advent of Big Data in healthcare, people will have the opportunity to keep a track of their health; doctors will have a better idea of somebody’s health thus allowing them to provide health advices on the go. Read more at: http://channels.theinnovationenterprise.com/articles/big-data-has-a-huge-part-to-play-in-the-future-of-healthcare

Now big data will help diagnose climate change. Shalene Gupta from Fortune talks about five big data projects that are on verge of changing the way we look at the problem of climate change. From tracking deforestation in Amazon, graphing animal life in African Savannah, tracking illegal forest fires to telling people how much energy they consume compared to their neighbors, we have it all in these 5 big data projects-

• Google Earth Engine

• Madingley Model form Microsoft

• Data.gov’s climate

• Global Forest Watch

• Opower

For more interesting insights follow the link http://fortune.com/2015/02/14/big-data-climate-change/

According to Bill Baker (President/Owner, Speed to Excellence), manufacturing companies need to be innovative.  They need to keep on finding new ways to do a task. Companies and individuals need to be agile and flexible in gaining new skills. In manufacturing industry only three things matter. They are:

• People: Employees are the most valuable assets of the organizations. They can find innovative ways to make processes more efficient.
• Technology: It keeps on changing. To be competitive you need to adapt new technologies.
• Process: Process can be improved by reducing waste time and by improving quality and to improve process you can use lean six sigma.
Read more at: http://www.industryweek.com/leadership/what-does-future-hold-manufacturing

78% of the companies have dedicated social media teams and only 26% of the companies have social media as the part of their marketing strategy. This shows that, they don't recognize the value of social media marketing and they don't trust social media data for decision making. Companies using social media for marketing or promotion mainly use two strategies for monitoring:

• Restrict to hash tag mentions: A strategy that leads to high precision at the cost of many missed mentions.
• Unrestricted keyword search: An approach that could generate numerous false positives.

But these strategies lead to false results. Now the question arises how to monitor social media accurately?

Rohini Srihari (Chief Scientist at SmartFocus and a contributor to Econsultancy) in her article “how reliable are social analytics?” talked about several ways for monitoring social media accurately. Some of them are:

• For comparison across brands and different content sources, you should consider the various features like share of voice, sentiments, sudden spikes etc.
• Sentimental analysis is best for analyzing trends like change in public perception.
• For location based analytics, a researcher should ensure that a sufficient number of samples have been obtained.

To know more follow this link: https://econsultancy.com/blog/66466-how-reliable-are-social-analytics/

People are always going to go shopping. A lot of our effort is just: 'How do we make the retail experience a great one?'

-Philip Green

The basic ingredient for success in a retail business is a magnificent customer experience. And, in today’s world, where technology has become an important part of our existence, then why not should we use its power in retail? That’s the next milestone that needs to be achieved i.e. to make retail more technology oriented and thus, customer friendly.

The following article at business-reporter.co.uk, lists out 5 technologies that will change the customer experience in retail. They are:

1. Projection
2. Touch Screens
3. Augmented Reality
4. Nighttime Displays
5. Robots

To know more about them in detail and how they have been actually brought into use by various retail stores, please visit the following link:

http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/04/28/5-technologies-set-to-change-customer-experience-in-retail/

According to Brian Sutter (Director of Marketing, Wasp Barcode), small business owner need to think strategically for long term survival. They should know how to use employee's time and skills effectively. Business should use CRM software for accessing customer data and analyze performance and business metrics for spotting pattern and trends. Small business owner need business intelligence tools for quick decision making, analyzing business opportunities and threats and improve management of the business. According to a recent report, 56% of small businesses plan to invest less than 3% of revenue on marketing. But, small organizations should use email marketing for maintaining long term relationship with customers. Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/245386

According to Travis Hessman (Industry week), the digital revolution will take us in the digital age from the information age. This will bring massive changes in our computing ability, our access to the internet and access to and proliferation of mobile devices. We use mobile digital technologies which allow us to stay connected to information and helps in taking decisions. We want to grow in this competitive world and move towards the fourth industrial revolution which opens up many opportunities.

Read more at:  http://www.industryweek.com/digital-revolution

Some 2 billion people continue to live on less than $2 a day! Millions of women and girls around the world lack basic human rights. A slew of initiatives address these and other intractable social issues, yet often, even the most successful ones only address a fraction of the problem. The good news is that a number of cutting-edge leaders and organizations are shifting their focus to ask: "How can we help to have impact at a scale that actually solves the problem?" And they are finding that technology, particularly information tech, offers answers. According to Ray Kurzweil, Google’s director of engineering and a renowned expert on artificial intelligence, "Once any domain, discipline, technology, or industry becomes information-enabled and powered by information flows, its price/performance begins doubling approximately annually." This phenomenon opens up the potential for exponential growth in reach and impact.

Here are six ways that information technology is breaking through scale barriers:

·      Empowering with information.

·         Teaching and engaging.

·         Making matches.

·         Crowdsourcing hotspots.

·         Reaching the under-served.

·         Raise cash for good.

Abe Grindle, famous author, speaks about the ways technology is breaking the barriers to social change. To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.fastcoexist.com/3043761/techsocial/6-ways-technology-is-breaking-barriers-to-social-change

Cricket and Analytics are hot topics today. With the help of technology Analytics, the interest quotient of cricket has gone up exponentially. High definition telecasts, data visualisation have really made cricket exciting to watch nowadays. Vijay Sethi, VP and CIO at Hero MotoCorp Ltd, speaks about how he sees his favourite game today that comes with a generous dose of analytics. To read more, visit the following link:

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/analytics-in-cricket-is-a-technological-marvel-hero-motocorp-cio-vijay-sethi/536201-3.html

Technology has made a huge impact on the game of cricket and 'Analytics' has revolutionized cricket match viewing experience. According to Amitava Ghosh, ex-CTO at TaxiForSure, there are two broad categories of data visualization statistics. He further explains that one is a fun based static which is used to entertain viewers, and the second one is performance oriented, analytical statistic which helps to enhance a player's performance, which in turn helps the team to strategize better. To know more, follow: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cricketnext/analytics-brings-in-meticulous-approach-to-cricket-says-amitava-ghosh-excto-taxiforsure/533528-78.html

According to Bjorn Cumps (digital banking professor and director of the Centre for Financial Services at Vlerick Business School), retail banks would find it very challenging to increase net bank income because of the recent financial crisis. So, the only way these banks can look for possible future growth is via technology. Retail banks have been testing with new technology like mobile banking apps, prepaid cards, QR-code based payments, digital advisors, social media analytics tools and location-based services etc. The true winners in retail banking will not be the ones who approve new technology but is the one with new financial ecosystem, including tech companies, energy companies, retailers, real estate agents, notaries, lawyers and many other service providers, offering integrated services that create genuine customer value. Read more at: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2014/oct/07/retail-banks-growth-hopes-technology-value-customer-apple-pay